On Sketching (or Why Do We Sketch)

How do we remember a place? Let me be clear: I’m not (necessarily) asking what we remember about a place. I’m asking how we do it, the remembering. The holding in our minds. And how do we return there, even when we’re miles upon miles away? If we are there, actually and physically there, how can we exist in that space in a deeper way?

If we want to remember a place, our first instinct might be to take a photo, letting us return to the frozen image at some later date. But this only serves as a reminder of a place (whenever we stumble on the photo). If we want to remember a place, relying on photos is counterproductive. There is some research that links taking photos of an event or place to a worse recollection of the details of the memory. Our brains offload the burden of ingraining the details in our minds. That is, if we take photos, we remember less. 

With some exceptions, taking photos won’t help us be more present either, especially in the era of smartphone photography. The world is being viewed through a digital screen. Most of the time, we aren’t printing off photos anymore, so this reminder of the place never actually exists in our physical world. This is not to disparage photography as an art: a good photographer is just as intentional and careful and present as any artist. But for most of us, snapping pics that will forever be buried in our smartphone “Photos” apps or hard drives or the cloud, it’s far from the best solution. So then, what CAN we do to remember? What CAN we do to be present? Well, reader, we can SKETCH. 

For those of us whose brains are crushed by the drive for efficiency, sketching as the answer might provoke a wince. In comparison to the quick snap capture of photography (and especially smartphone photography), even the quickest sketch takes much more time. Really, this is part of the point. The slowness is a feature, not a bug. We create not only a memory of a place, but a memory in a place. A long moment that can be tied back to that somewhere. 

The slowness, the intentionality, also forces us to see the world. Will the drawing be picture perfect? No. But doesn’t that make it more interesting? More memorable? Will a photo capture more details than a sketch? Of course. But it’s the phone “seeing” those details, not us. Sketching requires the sketcher to look longer. To find the details. To hold them. And, somehow, to translate them on the page. Further, the artists decide what details they need to capture the essence and essential spirit of the location. It is a representation of a building’s or a landscape’s core. We become aware not only of the place and the things in it, but of the space as well: distance, proportion, distortion. The sketcher not only becomes more aware of what is there, but also of the space between what is there. 

Sketching is a more embodied act. Most photos are created with a simple push of the button. A single, quick movement of the finger. To sketch, in contrast, is recreating the place on the page through many and multiple movements. Our bodies get a feeling for the place: our hands move along the lines and shades of the structures and environment our eyes take in. As we feel the vibrations and frictions of the pens or pencils moving along the page, the place vibrates through us as well. The spirit of environment and architecture moves through us. We have the opportunity to remember not only what a place looks like, but what it feels like. What a place moves like. 

In the following weeks, we’ll be posting a series on some places around Montana and Wyoming where we’ve made sketches of our own. In addition to sharing the sketches themselves, we’ll talk about the backgrounds and histories of these various locals. Keep an eye out on our blog and social media to be notified when those go up.